Port of Long Beach takes step toward new headquarters

LONG BEACH - The Port of Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners on Monday asked that port staff return with a report on the process for selecting a new permanent headquarters sometime in January.

The report may address potential locations downtown and guidelines and priorities for what the new home of the port's roughly 350 administrative employees would look like and where it should be located. The board also reinforced its desire for a transparent and inclusive process.

Costly earthquake retrofitting requirements and asbestos and lead-based paint issues have led port officials to make plans to move the staff out of the 53-year-old building at

925 Harbor Plaza in the port complex.

For now, the port staff is expected to move temporarily to 4801 Airport Plaza Drive, the former Boeing Co. building near the Long Beach Airport. That decision is expected to first go before the City Council on Dec. 11 because the port's budget would have to be changed to allocate the money.

The deal would likely close Dec. 27 and port staff would move about six months later, port officials said.

Port officials have been in a two-year battle over the new headquarters after Mayor Bob Foster vetoed an initial plan to build an expansive new building at the port.